Neuro wrote: i think it looks better than arkham city, i like the big city gotham better, i also like the look of batman and the characters in this one, i like the new gadgets so far, i feel now that ive seen this, its an advanced arkham city with a lot more to it, and even more freedom to do whatever as well, we'll see but im pretty sure now that this one is going to be what i wanted more of from arkham city

Sure it's bigger but from the looks of it they are taking Arkham City and copy/pasting it x4

So much about this game is strange or dumb, from a story, look and production perspective.

Thu Sep 05, 2013 1:27 pm

NeuroA champion of Kurtis SP

Joined: 19 Jul 2002
Posts: 7909

Brynjar wrote:

Neuro wrote: i think it looks better than arkham city, i like the big city gotham better, i also like the look of batman and the characters in this one, i like the new gadgets so far, i feel now that ive seen this, its an advanced arkham city with a lot more to it, and even more freedom to do whatever as well, we'll see but im pretty sure now that this one is going to be what i wanted more of from arkham city

Sure it's bigger but from the looks of it they are taking Arkham City and copy/pasting it x4

isnt that exactly what arkham city did with a.asylum ?

Thu Sep 05, 2013 10:21 pm

Mark in Minnesota

Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Posts: 2066
Location: Saint Louis Park, MN

I finally finished playing Gears of War: Judgment's single player campaign. Hardcore (second hardest) difficulty, 3 stars on all sections, all declassified files. I simply cannot imagine playing again on insane difficulty. Or maybe I can imagine it so well that I don't need to do it.

Sun Sep 15, 2013 10:07 pm

NeuroA champion of Kurtis SP

Joined: 19 Jul 2002
Posts: 7909

is it a good gears game though? or is just the same ol same ol

i still think gears 2 is the best one, even if gears 3 has some good improvements

---------------------------

ign gta 5 review :10 masterpiece

Mon Sep 16, 2013 11:51 am

Mark in Minnesota

Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Posts: 2066
Location: Saint Louis Park, MN

I think you would like it because you liked BulletStorm, and it definitely reminded me more of Gears 2 than any of the others. I also think you should wait until you can buy it on the cheap.

That said: All I've played is the campaign, and increasingly the campaign is just a loss leader for the cooperative and multiplayer modes.

The campaign has two sections: a main section which follows Cole and Baird and two other Gears through a prequel mission which takes place before those two meet Dom and Marcus for the first time; and an "Aftermath" section which follows Cole and Baird and two other gears through a mission which takes place while Marcus and Dom are in the final act of Gears of War 3.

The main section has you play each member of the squad for different sections, as those squads are narrating courtroom testimony about the events of the mission. The "declassified mission" concept is basically optional tweaks to the gameplay which are characterized as disputes between the Gear's testimony and the "official record." Each mission tracks how many kills you get, whether you scored headshots, chains of kills using single weapons, particularly difficult kill methods such as melee kills on "Ragers", etc. -- basically forcing you to compete against the computer-controlled squad members for kills if you want to get three stars on each section. Stars accumulate more quickly if you use the declassified missions.

Each section is either 1-2 skirmishes with the Locust as you move from one area to the next, or several skirmishes with the Locust as you defend an area against waves of attackers--basically taking "Horde mode" from the previous games and giving limited exposure to it in a campaign context.

The declassification tweaks are all basically one of:
1. Have to fight using a specific set of weapons, often with limited ammo.
2. Have to finish the section within a specific time limit.
3. Have to fight under limited visibility.
4. Have to fight unusually difficult enemies.
5. Taking damage sucks more than usual in some way because the squad is "tired."

The "unusually difficult enemies" options are pretty awesome--getting to fight corpsers or reavers during normal missions rather than as scheduled boss fights. The time limit sections are annoying. The limited visibility sections are annoying. The "sucky damage" sections are contrived, but not as contrived as the "specific weapons / limited ammo" sections.

The gameplay is better than Halo because squad-vs-squad leads to more tactical gameplay and cover-based 3PS is better for that stuff than standard FPS, but all of this candy about star ratings and side missions is really just there to give the campaign ways of earning experience. Experience levels up your character, which has impact on multiplayer but no relevance to campaign modes. The system also drives an unlock mechanism for different weapon and character skins.

The new weapons are meh:
1. Sawed-off shotgun, which does far more damage than the gnasher shotgun but has much more limited ammo and even shorter range. It's a go-to weapon for dealing with things like beast riders and maulers that get up in your shit without giving you much chance to headshot them, but it's so specialized and limited in ammo that you really can't use it unless your other weapon is unusually versatile.
2. Markza, which is a midrange scoped gun with low stopping power and high clip size. In practice all it does is make the hammerburst and the snub pistol obsolete.
3. Breach gun, which is an unscoped carbine with high stopping power and low clip size. Basically an excuse to distribute fewer Boltok pistols, but otherwise performs the same task.
4. Booshka, a grenade launcher where the grenades _don't_ explode on contact, but instead bounce and run out a timer.

There are also a couple of new grenade types but they're just gas effects that either enhance or degrade combat effectiveness without dealing direct damage. Regular grenades now stick to an enemy if you throw them right, which is a double-edged sword.

Weapon loadouts have been stripped down--now all you get to carry is two guns, with no special sidearm slot.

I can only really think of one new enemy other than the final boss: the Rager. These start looking like normal Locust who wield breach guns and hang back acting like moderately less dangerous snipers--but if you hit them with something other than a head-shot, they drop the gun and transform into a heavily armored melee opponent that rushes straight at you and kills you with one shot.

In exchange, most of the "Lambent" enemy types are gone.

In conclusion: Incremental polish on the same basic concept--but with the additional gameplay conceits actively detracting from the story progress, with most of the core characters absent and with the core story already told. We get some backstory about the Pendulum Wars and the UIR, but that only serves to make me wonder if those things will factor more into the subsequent games. I have a sense that this was done in support of multiplayer modes where you can play as a UIR faction instead of either COG or Locust, but unless I actually try the multiplayer I won't have an opinion on that. It's moot for now because GTA V comes out tomorrow and you can bet I'll be playing that next.

Mon Sep 16, 2013 1:28 pm

Brynjar

Joined: 12 Dec 2006
Posts: 1476
Location: Rivertown

The world seems to be going insane with GTA V hype

Mon Sep 16, 2013 2:45 pm

pedavis

Joined: 03 May 2007
Posts: 1425

Brynjar wrote: The world seems to be going insane with GTA V hype

as it should be

Mon Sep 16, 2013 10:38 pm

NeuroA champion of Kurtis SP

Joined: 19 Jul 2002
Posts: 7909

i think we might be able to shoot juggalos in gta 5

muahahaha

Mon Sep 16, 2013 10:44 pm

Juangirls don juan anything to do with me

Joined: 16 Sep 2003
Posts: 1139
Location: Ohio

Just got my copy, installing it now. It forces you to install the game and takes up 8 gb. I don't care though!

edit: on the install screen it keeps rotating pics and a Juggalo just flashed by

Mon Sep 16, 2013 10:47 pm

Mark in Minnesota

Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Posts: 2066
Location: Saint Louis Park, MN

Apparently there is frame rate lag if you install the "play disc" to hard drive as well, because the game is optimized under the assumption that the install disc and the play disc are being read from separate I/O channels. Kotaku had an article suggesting installing the play disc to a flash drive instead.

Tue Sep 17, 2013 12:33 pm

NeuroA champion of Kurtis SP

Joined: 19 Jul 2002
Posts: 7909

im going to do the flash drive thing, because this game needs to be completely installed for me since it will be on for long periods of time

is this something that will eventually get fixxed though, halo 4 is installed the same way with an install disc and the game disc and it runs perfect

this game is amazing, best gta ever so far

Wed Sep 18, 2013 8:28 pm

NeuroA champion of Kurtis SP

Joined: 19 Jul 2002
Posts: 7909

hmm i got a 8gb usb xbox360 flashdrive and it wont show up to install the game disc

or do i install both discs on my 360 hard drive and the game saves on my usb??!!!

hellllllpppp

Wed Sep 18, 2013 8:59 pm

NeuroA champion of Kurtis SP

Joined: 19 Jul 2002
Posts: 7909

lets put this this way GTA 5 is classic san andreas with all the modern improvements of BOTH gta 4 and red dead and a bunch of new stuff thrown in the mixx, i cant wait til gta online is up its going to take the game to the next level for sure

Wed Sep 18, 2013 11:27 pm

Plum Puddin'

Joined: 26 May 2008
Posts: 1849
Location: Earf.

Wed Sep 18, 2013 11:33 pm

pedavis

Joined: 03 May 2007
Posts: 1425

shit, i don't have a hard drive. just a measly 4gb flash drive to store saves on.